For those of you just tuning in, in June I bought a 2007 Honda Fit Sport from a private party, and paid $10,500 courtesy of an auto loan through my credit union. I know, I know, car loans are bad. But in my case my student loan interest rate is 6%, my auto loan interest rate is 2%, and I'm not badass enough to go completely carless just yet.
But the cost of a car is more than what you pay for it. First and most obviously there's the cost of gas. And then there's a whole host of other fees like title and registration, emissions and safety inspections, taxes, insurance, servicing, and unexpected repairs. It's easy to sweep those costs under the proverbial rug because they're generally not charged in neat monthly increments (well, maybe insurance is).
Gas is an easy win. Before my Fit I was driving a hand-me-down Land Rover LR2, where the gas tank was twice as big and I'm pretty sure I filled it up more often. I think the gas tank on my Fit is 12 gallons and when I'm only commuting it's three weeks between fill-ups. I can get this down even further the more I bike.
Then there's taxes. Where we live we pay an annual vehicle value tax. Let me break this out into a table so it's easier to compare:
| Car | Fit | LR2 |
|---|---|---|
| Tax months | 6 | 5 |
| Tax due | $74.61 | $129.82 |
| Total due | $91.11 | $145.65 |
| Monthly tax | $12.44 | $25.96 |
| Assessed value | $8,825 | $18,425 |
The Fit costs less than half as much in taxes as did the LR2. Not at all coincidentally, the assessed value of the Fit is less than half. (Those numbers are almost exactly the same ratio. I checked.) Total due is more because they charge about $16 for a yearly registration.
Then there's maintenance. I've got one more pre-paid maintenance at the Honda dealer where the previous owner serviced the car. So I got the oil change for free, and it was $16 for a state emissions and safety inspection. But I let them talk me into other preventative stuff like changing the air filters, so it cost me $167.68. A lesson is learned: car dealerships are almost always a ripoff.
And that brings me to my final point, a question for my readership:
I'm considering purchasing the Helm service manual for my vehicle's model year. The down side is that it costs $56.50, maybe more with shipping. The upside is that 1) I'm sure I can perform a bunch of easy maintenance stuff myself, thus saving lots of money, and 2) it will teach me a whole lot about my car, thus increasing my general competence level and my automotive competence level specifically.
I'm pretty sure the service manual is worth it, but I'd really like a second opinion. Thoughts?
Check your local library. The main branch of our county library has several service manuals available. If nothing else, at least you can make sure you'd get $56.50 of use out of it.
ReplyDeleteAir filters are easy to change, btw. My husband and I are both mechanically inept, and we managed to change both the cabin filter & engine filter on our cars. YouTube is a great resource for DIY stuff like that. The hardest part was getting the right replacement filter, which I blame on being in a hurry while shopping.
Good advice. It looks like my library has a number of Chilton manuals, though they're all pre-2000 and otherwise not specific to my vehicle, it's a good start and it's free. That and YouTube will get me far, and then I can always buy the Helm manual if and when I want to up my game. Deferring purchases is totally Mustachian :)
DeleteGet the manual. The first time you do brakes, radiator, water pump, or something similar it will pay for itself. Even if you have to buy the tools at time of service it will not take long to get your money back.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, each of those items I mentioned will be far easier than you imagine. Even with a Mini Cooper (tiny, cramped engine bay) I try to do as much work as possible by myself. If it doesn't involve dropping the engine, or highly specialzied tools I can probably pull it off using the manual. For the mini it's a Bentley manual that cost me almost $75. For the minivan it'll hopefully be a Hanes or Chiltons that should run around $30, but I'd pay the $60 in a heartbeat.
Except oil changes. I pay for the privilege of not dealing with the excess fluid. This is most definitely not mustachian by the way. Most people will tell you, rightly, that an oil change is one of the easiest car repairs to do yourself. They're just cheap enough I don't mind paying for them instead of saving $10-$15 by doing it myself over the course of 30-60 minutes. (Time considered after dealing with fluids.)
I'm glad to hear it's not so hard. I'm definitely looking forward to saving money doing repairs myself.
DeleteFor really easy stuff like the air filter, the Internet will tell you everything you need to know. Don't get the manual until you have a job in mind you'll use it for.
ReplyDeleteGood advice, thanks. You (and everyone else) have convinced me to defer the purchase, though I'll still probably wind up buying it eventually. Later is better than sooner in this case.
DeleteBuying the manual isn't necessary. If you've worked on cars before, you almost certainly already know how to do stuff like brakes, filters/oil, coolant flush, etc. Also, this is the internet. Thirty seconds in google will connect you with the factory service manual as well as several forums of enthusiasts. In my experience, I've found it's better to check out the top 2-3 forums for a car for maintenance over the manual. Many times, someone has already done exactly what you're trying to do and has some tips and short cuts to make it go well that just don't exist in the service manual. Finding threads with pictures isn't uncommon, especially for more involved/less intuitive tasks. You can probably even find a used version of the book for sale in the store section if you really do need it after all.
ReplyDeleteAha, but I haven't worked on cars before. I'm pretty mechanically stupid if I do say so myself. Buying the manual would be a sort of security blanket for simple repairs where I should just be using the internet instead. So that's just what I'll do. On more complex repairs I'll definitely be investing in the service manual.
DeleteI don't know much about cars but my step family is made up of nothing but gear heads and watching them works amazes me. I'd do what Beth said and check the library first. If it's something simple like oil change and filter, definitely internet. Last resort manual. Basically I'm echoing what everybody has said but just know that a car isn't a mystery at all. It's just a puzzle that needs to be put together properly.
ReplyDeleteYeah, cars were designed by humans and they're serviced by humans. Hey, so are houses too. And almost everything I interact with on a daily basis. Pretty cool that we can learn how to work with / fix / improve all of those things.
DeleteMy experience with service manuals is that you need to know the basics for them to make any sense. I've never owned a Honda, so that may be different. But if you couldn't change your oil filter without the manual, then the manual will likely be a little overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you decide to buy it, check eBay and (if you have one) Half-Priced books. I bought my service manual on eBay for $10, when the dealer wanted $50.
Last piece of advice, youtube almost always has good videos for basic work on popular cars/motorcycles/bikes. I usually just search for a video, and almost always find a great instructive video a real mechanic made of the work - and that's a lot easier to follow than the manual.
Good advice. If I'm going to buy the service manual then I should at least watch some walk-through videos on YouTube first.
DeleteI checked out a Chilton manual from the library, for foreign cars from '90-'95. It's like a textbook. And I'm definitely in over my head with it. So yeah, YouTube videos first!
Ebay is a good idea too! Thanks for stopping by.